Sunday, August 06, 2006

It seems that tight budgets are hitting everywhere. Or is it just mismanagement of government. For privacy advocates this could have large elements of good news built in.

What am I writing about, you say? The National Security Agency (NSA) is getting too big for its power supplies. From the Baltimore Sun:

"The demand for electricity to operate its expanding intelligence systems has left the high-tech eavesdropping agency on the verge of exceeding its power supply, the lifeblood of its sprawling 350-acre Fort Meade headquarters, according to current and former intelligence officials.

Agency officials anticipated the problem nearly a decade ago as they looked ahead at the technology needs of the agency, sources said, but it was never made a priority, and now the agency's ability to keep its operations going is threatened. The NSA is already unable to install some costly and sophisticated new equipment, including two new supercomputers, for fear of blowing out the electrical infrastructure, they said.

At minimum, the problem could produce disruptions leading to outages and power surges at the Fort Meade headquarters, hampering the work of intelligence analysts and damaging equipment, they said. At worst, it could force a virtual shutdown of the agency, paralyzing the intelligence operation, erasing crucial intelligence data and causing irreparable damage to computer systems -- all detrimental to the fight against terrorism."

I'm frankly glad that it is not a problem that I have to solve. Besides being humorous, there really are serious security implications. The U.S. really has external enemies it badly needs to keep track of, and this looks like it could be a problem.

Of course, it may put a real crimp on Cheney's plans to turn Americs into a right-wing dictatorship, also.

There is also this line in the article: "Agency officials anticipated the problem nearly a decade ago as they looked ahead at the technology needs of the agency, sources said, but it was never made a priority,..." I seem to recall that the new Director of Central Intelligence, General Michael V. Hayden, USAF, had some previous connection with the NSA. From the DIA webpage "General Hayden has wide experience in leadership positions throughout the Intelligence Community. From March 1999 to April 2005, he served as Director, National Security Agency/Chief, Central Security Service (NSA/CSS), Fort George G. Meade, Maryland. "

Now we all know that to get promoted in the Bush administration you have to screw up big time. Is this shortage of electricity at the NSA the failure that got General Hayden promoted to Director of Central Intellignece?